Posted on 10/18/2021 12:46:03 PM PDT by Red Badger
A pair of economists, one with the University of Calgary, the other, the University of California, along with a civil engineer from Carnegie Mellon University, is suggesting in a Comment piece in the journal Nature, that electric vehicles (EVs) need to be lighter if they are to replace gasoline-powered vehicles. In their paper, Blake Shaffer, Maximilian Auffhammer and Constantine Samaras suggest that the added weight of EVs makes them less safe and less efficient and therefore less economical.
In their paper, the authors note that climate change has put EVs on a path to replace cars powered by gasoline. But they also note that for the changeover to be successful EVs need to be made much lighter.
EVs are heavier than gasoline-powered vehicles because of their heavy battery packs. They are also heavier because engineers have to add strength to the vehicles to allow them to carry such heavy batteries. Therefore, the authors conclude, batteries need to be made lighter. They note that up until now, most of the engineering effort involved with batteries has been focused on making them hold more energy so that EVs can travel farther on a charge. But they suggest that focus now needs to include reducing weight. They point out that heavier EVs, in addition to being less efficient because of their weight, pose a danger in collisions with gasoline powered cars due to the weight differential. They note also that heavier vehicles produce more tread wear on tires, which means more roadside pollution.
The authors have several suggestions to help the EV industry reduce its weight problem. The first is to shrink the size of the batteries by using other materials that are more energy dense and removing those that are heavy, such as the liquid electrolytes. They also suggest it should be possible to lighten the frames of EVs that had been made heavier to hold the heavy batteries—again, by using other, lighter materials. They note also that adding technology to reduce crashes could help with acceptance of EVs. And they suggest that efforts could be made by communities to promote less driving. The pandemic, they point out, has shown that more people could be working at home.
Explore further
Why some electric car owners revert back to buying gasoline-powered vehicles
More information:
Blake Shaffer et al, Make electric vehicles lighter to maximize climate and safety benefits, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-02760-8
Journal information: Nature
These idea and suggestion publications are the kind of thing real designers and engineers scoff at.
Really, lighter vehicles are better? Damn, I wish I’d thought of that!
Make lighter batteries for better more efficient electric cars? Brilliant!!!
Basically, these are all goals for every vehicle designer, whether gasoline, diesel or electric - they don’t need some idiot explaining to them basic design goals the industry has been emphasizing since 1950.
Why do you think cars are half plastic now? Weight!!! Your granddad’s Hudson or Packard was heavy and all steel/iron except for the bakelite radio and heater dials.
Breaking: A Tesla driver was killed on impact when his vehicle had a collision with a Hot Wheels Corvette. The Corvette and its plastic driver both escaped damage.
Longer range and lighter weight are definitely competing objectives in a battery-powered vehicle.
What a great idea, I’m amazed that the thousands of engineers and actual scientists involved in developing and building electric cars never thought of that!
I need to start carrying hot dogs and really long sticks.
The battery pack on those new EB pickup trucks weights in at 1 Ton. Hauling that around uses a massive amount of energy.
With the current power technology then EV’s are the most senseless creation that ever was. Much worse for the environment. They use more energy. The list goes on.
But it will give the government much more control over people’s travel. It is just another communist goal.
I woke up night before last in a panic realizing that none of my cars have an actual key ignition and could probably be remotely disabled. That’s gonna make it hard to bug out if they ever come for me.
The bigger obstacle is charge time. After driving a gasoline car for a few hours I can refuel it in five minutes. Make an electric car do that with no major impact on battery life and it will give gas cars a good run for the money. Otherwise they will remain in-town commuter cars with overnight charging.
And if you happen to crash it on the 4th of July, no one in that area will need to buy fireworks. Lithium Ion plus magnesium? What a show!
Do away with private transportation and install high speed conveyor belts as Roads Must Roll.
Some OTR sci fi story I heard.
You are right, but economists like to spend years figuring out what everybody else already knows.
Lol. That was my first thought. A bunch of paper pushers got paid to come up with these genius ideas.
Heinlein.
I thought it was good for radio.
Remember when car ads use to feature “road hugging weight”?
Meet the Ford Pinto with more road hugging weight than Corolla!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVQ-3JyzWgI
Pretty soon the major weight will be the passengers.
So, soon your electric car will not be allowed to carry any persons, in order to get the govt. mandated mileage.
And you charge it with your electric powered generator, too.
Oh come on man! Just leave out those heavy batteries 🤗
Sheesh, do I have to think of everything 😁
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